To what extent have you found it possible, in your consideration of literary works, to separate the individual from his or her public role? In your answer you should refer to any two or three works you have studied.

5) b)
To what extent have you found it possible, in your consideration of literary works, to separate the individual from his or her public role? In your answer you should refer to any two or three works you have studied.

In the novels studied we can see that the characters have two completely different faces, a public face and a more personal face. This can be seen in the characters of Okonkwo in Chinua Achebe’s ‘Things Fall Apart’ while also being evident in Antoinette and Edward in Rhys’ ‘Wide Sargasso Sea’. In these novels we see the narration centered around these protagonists. This enables us to see an inner side of them which they attempt to conceal from the societies which they live in, Okonkwo and Edward for fear of being weak and Antoinette for fear of being condemned. In allowing us to see their reactions to certain events and being able to track the changes in their way of thinking in response to certain events we see their attempt to conceal their emotions. In this way we can see and clearly separate the individual from their public role in these novels.

To begin with, ‘Things Fall Apart’ by Chinua Achebe revolves around the life or Okonkwo. Through the omniscient narration we are enabled to see the thoughts of Okonkwo all throughout the novel. One such example is in the very beginning of the novel, where Okonkwo attempts to show Umuofia that he is a great man and an extremely hard worker. On this occasion we find out that Okonkwo does so as he despises the laziness of his father and strives not to be like him and obtain the abysmal reputation which Unoka had. Thus we can clearly see how Okonkwo strives to show society a particular aspect of his character however we find out that underneath this is a hidden hatred. Another example is where Okonkwo strikes and kills Ikemefuna. This occurs when the oracle has instructed Okonkwo not to have a part in Ikemefuna’s murder. However the all-knowing narrator tells us that “He was afraid of being thought weak” and so he struck the boy. The aftermath of this perhaps demonstrates the façade Okonkwo puts on. After the death of Ikemefuna he retreats to his hut and spends time alone, drinking a lot of palm wine. This contrasts with his show of manliness previously. It is another clear example of the separation of the individual and their public role.

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Furthermore, we can see emotions such as anger and extreme agitation of Okonkwo in the novel which he does not let show. One such example is a recurring quote of “He ground his teeth.” This appears of very many occasions, such as the mentioning of the arrival of the whites while Okonkwo is in exile. What is maybe the most evident example is where Okonkwo does this when the kotma enter the market place and attempt to disband the meeting of the clan. This extreme rage erupts and results in his killing of the kotma. It is the Okonkwo reaching his climax and after this instant he commits suicide. The suicide in itself may also be an example of Okonkwo separating himself from his public role. By killing himself he makes himself an abomination to the clan and it is as if he is acknowledging defeat by the white men. It is a turn from the strong, manly image that he tries to show at all times. We know the reasons why Okonkwo has committed this act, and hence this allows us to distinguish his inner emotions from those which he shows.

Also, we can see the division between the personal life and the public life of the characters in Rhys’ ‘Wide Sargasso Sea’. From the beginning we can see this in Antoinette. We see how she finds animals “better, better than people”. However we also learn that the black population of the area thin that Annette, Antoinette’s mother, has gone crazy as they cannot afford anything following the emancipation of the slaves, and that Antoinette may follow in her footsteps. This comes through in Tia’s stealing on Antoinette’s clothes and money when they are at the creek. Thus the black population thinks that Antoinette is crazy, however we see that this seclusion is due to her insecurities and her feelings of hurt at being mocked. Thus we can separate the individual from her public role.

Also, another example of Antoinette proving this point is seen through Christophine’s words to Edward. We see that Antoinette is blindly loyal to Edward and that she forces Christophine to create the love potion for her to win back Edward’s love after reading Daniel’s letter. To Edward this is an attempt by her to drive him crazy and torment him. However we know that she does so as she is so dependant on him and is driven crazy by his “voodoo” as Christophine calls it in calling her “marionette, Antionetta…” Thus we see how Antoinette differs from her public role.

Furthermore, we can see this same effect in Edward. In Edward we see all the colonial values held by people of that time. He represents the imperialistic sentiment. Thus when he arrives in Granbois he sees everything as too much and Antoinette as alien. He says that there is “too much blue, too much purple, too much green,” and that “the girl is said to be beautiful, she is beautiful. And yet…” We can see that the natural, unordered way of things is unusual to him, just like when Antoinette tells him that she does not feel like getting up in the morning. They make him appear stubborn and too methodical for the servants there however we know that this is because of his upbringing. This allows us to distinguish his inner thoughts from those he publicly expresses.

Moreover, another such example is in Edward’s letter to his father. Here we see that he is oddly cold and formal. For example there he says to his father that “I feel that I have left you too long without news for the bare announcement of me approaching marriage was hardly news.” This shows Edward attempting to be cool and calculating to his father and attempting to live up to British standards. However we find out that he has been neglected as a child in favour of his older brother and was forced to marry so as to acquire some money. Thus we can again see two different sides of Edward.

To conclude, we can see that it is very easy to separate the individual from his or her public role. This is so as the narrators choose to reveal some facts, thoughts and emotions of the characters which lead us to see things as they really are instead of as the characters attempt to portray in the respective novels.

To what extent have you found it possible, in your consideration of literary works, to separate the individual from his or her public role? In your answer you should refer to any two or three works you have studied.

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